


Lumpy's Sneezy Adventure

by sarahgirl1998



Series: HTF sneezefics [7]
Category: Happy Tree Friends
Genre: Allergies, Comedy, Conversations, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Cross-Posted on deviantArt, Feathers & Featherplay, Flowers, Gen, Humor, Lumpy from Happy Tree Friends Sneezes, Male Sneezing, Slice of Life, Sneezing, Tickling
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-02
Updated: 2017-02-02
Packaged: 2018-09-21 14:17:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9552533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahgirl1998/pseuds/sarahgirl1998
Summary: After smelling a flower (which turns out to be the Curse Flower) that he's never seen before, Lumpy starts to sneeze frequently and loudly. And since there's no way to cure the effects, he's got to accept it until it goes away... assuming it will go away.





	1. Discovering the Flower

It was a clear, sunny day in the forest, and Lumpy was taking a walk. He stopped, however, when he noticed a large, black flower growing out of the ground. Intrigued, he walked over to it, picked it up from the ground and looked at it. He had never seen it before, and didn't know anything about it.

He hesitated at first, but moved the flower very close to his nostrils and gave a deep sniff. Just then, his nose started to feel extremely itchy, and he quickly pulled the flower away from his face. His nostrils, which had turned a bright red, were flaring up. Covering them was a layer of black pollen from the flower. Lumpy realized what was going to happen: he was going to sneeze.

Lumpy already knew that he had hay fever, and that he wasn't supposed to sniff any flowers. But there were several times when he couldn't resist, or decided to ignore his allergies. This time seemed to be a bit of both. He mostly wanted to sniff the flower because he liked how pretty it looked, but before he did, he remembered his hay fever. He decided to sniff it anyway, however, and the result was to be expected.

"Ahhh... Aaaahhhh..." Lumpy began to inhale, tilting his neck back as his nostrils continued to flare up. "AaaaaaaAAAAAAAAHHHHH... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Even after a huge, loud sneeze that could be heard for miles, Lumpy's nose hadn't been satisfied. He still needed to sneeze, and the urge was just so strong that he had no choice but to release.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH... AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

Thinking it was over, Lumpy sniffled and rubbed his nose on his forefinger, as he would after almost every time he sneezed. But when he sniffled, he inhaled a bit of pollen that was still on his nose, even after the sneezes, and he needed to sneeze again. His nose twitched as he prepared to release a couple more sneezes, although it didn't take as much buildup as it did before.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhh... AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

Rubbing his nose on his finger again, Lumpy let go of the flower and decided to leave the area. Along the way, he could still feel his nostrils itching like crazy. The urge to sneeze started to build up again, but he really didn't want to sneeze now. He was afraid that someone would overhear, but the sneeze was coming, and he began to inhale.

"Aaahhh..." Lumpy took one inhale, and then stuck his forefinger under his nose, trying to hold the sneeze in. It didn't stop the sneeze as he expected, however; it seemed to make the urge even worse, and he continued to inhale. "Aaaaahhhhh... AaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH..."

Through his blurry vision, he could see other people looking at him, wondering what was going on. He didn't care, however, because he really had to release his sneeze. He removed his forefinger from his nose, raised both of his hands to the end of his snout and sneezed loudly into his hands.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH, AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! AAAAAHHHH, AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

After sneezing a whopping four times, Lumpy removed his hands, which were now soaked with his spit from the sneezes, and rubbed his nose on his forefinger. He blushed in embarrassment at the onlookers and then continued on his way. He decided to go to Sniffles' house and see if he could come up with a solution.

Once he had gotten there, he rang the doorbell and waited for a response. As he was waiting, however, his nose started twitching and his nostrils started flaring again. He inhaled twice as the urge to sneeze again assaulted him yet again.

"Aaaaahhhh... AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH..." After two inhales, Lumpy put his hands over his nose just as Sniffles opened the door. The first thing that the intelligent anteater saw was Lumpy doubling over as he released the sneeze. "CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

He tried his best, but he just couldn't keep this sneeze from being extremely loud. Hearing it caught Sniffles off guard, and caused him to cringe. A few seconds later, Lumpy removed his hands from his face, sniffled and rubbed his nose on his forefinger.

"Gesundheit," Sniffles said.

"Sorry about that, Sniffles," Lumpy said as he continued to rub his nose for a few seconds. "I've got a little bit of a problem."

"And what exactly does that problem involve?" Sniffles asked as he let Lumpy inside.

"Well, I found this flower, and I sniffed it, and then I just..." Lumpy sniffled again. "...started sneezing really loud."

"Lumpy, we have experienced this situation before," Sniffles said in his usual wordy lingo. "You were diagnosed with a severe allergy known as hay fever, commonly induced by..."

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH..." Lumpy inhaled again, turned away from Sniffles and released an uncovered sneeze. He had always been told to cover his mouth when he sneezed, but sometimes, he just couldn't. "CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Lumpy sniffled and rubbed his nose on his forefinger as he turned back to Sniffles. "Excuse me. I don't think it's my hay fever that's making me sneeze. I think it's the flower..."

"Do you at least remember the appearance of the aforementioned flower?"

"Well, it was black, and the pollen was black, too, I think. I never saw it before..."

"I'm afraid that I have never seen a plant with such characteristics. I will attempt to research it, however, and attempt to figure out how to make you stop sneezing from it."

Just as Sniffles finished talking, Lumpy's nose began to twitch again, and his nostrils began to flare up again. He tilted his neck back as he inhaled to sneeze, holding his hands in front of his reddened nose.

"AaaaaaAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH... AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH..."

Sniffles immediately recognized the pre-sneeze expression, inhales and pose from Lumpy. Sniffles quickly got out a tissue and put it in Lumpy's hands just before he exploded.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Lumpy released the sneeze into what he thought were his hands, but was actually the tissue that Sniffles had given him. A few seconds later, he recovered, noticed the tissue in his hands, and then wiped his nose on said tissue.

"*Sniff* Thanks..."

"In the meantime, however, you must wait in this room until I figure out what the flower actually is. There is a tissue box in here if you need to sneeze again. But whatever you do, no matter what happens, do not try not to sneeze."

"Oh, I won't. I've already tried doing that, and I sneezed four times. So I won't do it again."

"Very well, then. I will return as soon as possible."

Sniffles went into his lab while Lumpy stayed in the living room and sat down on the couch. He could still feel his nose itching constantly, even after the large number of sneezes that he had released today. He also had the strangest feeling that it would get worse later. As one with hay fever, frequent sneezing was pretty common for him, but he could never remember having it this bad.


	2. Sniffles' Explanation

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

Lumpy released yet another big and loud sneeze into the tissue that he was holding in his hands. He then sniffled, rubbed his nose once on his forefinger, and then raised the tissue to his nostrils and blew his nose. Once he had finished, he removed the tissue from his face and continued rubbing his nose.

It had been about five minutes since Sniffles had agreed to research the unknown flower that had been making Lumpy sneeze. Lumpy hadn't sniffed or even seen the flower since he first found it, but he could still feel its effects going strong. Besides the loud sneezes themselves, his nostrils still had a bright red hue on them, and were extremely sensitive. Some of the few things that couldn't make him sneeze were rubbing his nose or blowing it, but pretty much everything else could. Lumpy didn't think he could go a single minute without sneezing again.

Lumpy's nose twitched, and his nostrils began to flare up again, to his dismay. He had lost track of how many times that he had sneezed today, but he didn't find that nearly as important as the sneezes themselves. They were starting to annoy him, and he wanted to stop them. He brought a forefinger back to his nose and rubbed his itching nostrils, but that didn't seem to work. His breath started to hitch as he removed his finger from his nose.

"Aaaaaaaahh... AaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAHHHHH... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Lumpy didn't manage to cover his mouth as he unleashed a huge sneeze, which could be heard from all over the house. A second after it had passed, his nostrils flared up again, and he exploded with another powerful sneeze that was also uncovered. "AaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Lumpy's finger snapped back to the end of his snout as he sniffled and rubbed his nose. He hoped that Sniffles didn't overhear those two sneezes.

"Oh, man. I haven't sneezed this much in ages," Lumpy said to himself. "I hope there's a way to stop it."

A short time after he said that, Sniffles returned from the lab. He either didn't hear Lumpy's double sneeze, or he decided to ignore it. But either way, that wasn't what he wanted to talk about.

"Lumpy, I have good news and bad news," he said. "The good news is that I've finally found what the flower that you described is. It is known as the Curse Flower. Attempting to sniff this rare flower and/or inhaling its pollen will cause one to sneeze loudly, uncontrollably and frequently."

"Well, what's the bad news?" Lumpy asked.

"There is no possible way to cure the effects once they have started."

"So I'm gonna be sneezing... forever?" Just as Lumpy finished asking that out of fear, his nostrils flared up, as if responding to what he had just heard. His breath began to hitch as another sneeze built up. "Aaah... AaaaaaAAAHHHHHHHHH..."

"Fortunately, the effects are temporary and will go away after a certain time period. The exact time period..."

Sniffles would have continued, but it became clear that Lumpy wasn't listening to him anymore, but that was because of the sneeze he had coming on.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH..."

"Lumpy?" Sniffles almost sounded annoyed that Lumpy wasn't listening to him, but then he realized what was going to happen and looked on in fear.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Lumpy released another absolutely huge sneeze that caused Sniffles to cringe. Almost immediately afterward, Lumpy blew his nose again on his tissue before removing it from his face and rubbing his nose with his forefinger.

"Gesundheit," Sniffles said.

"Would you please say 'bless you' and not... what you just said?" Lumpy continued to rub his nose. "I don't know what that word means."

"Very well, then. Bless you." Sniffles then went back to what he was talking about. "As I was saying, the effects are temporary and will go away after a certain time period. The exact time period varies depending on the person under the effects. Normal people, for example, will take at least 24 hours before the effects wear off. Effected people with hay fever and allergies, however..."

"AaaaaaaAAAAAAAHHHHHHH..." Lumpy inhaled loudly again as his nostrils flared up, and then he raised his tissue to his nose as he sneezed yet again. "CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" He then sniffled and wiped his nose on the tissue.

"...will usually take well over 24 hours," Sniffles resumed. "If their allergies are induced again during that time period, the effects will continue for longer than expected."

Lumpy didn't respond at first. He simply sat where he was with a shocked expression on his face. He had remembered something important: his hay fever. If he had hay fever, then he would be sneezing for over a day. It took him a few seconds before he spoke, dead quietly.

"Oh, no. I have hay fever."

"Lumpy, it's not that bad a problem." Sniffles tried to reassure him. "You should be back to normal sometime tomorrow."

"But that means I'm gonna be sneezing really hard all day! I can't live with that!" Sometime after Lumpy had finished saying that, his nostrils started to flare up again. "Aaaaahh... AaaaaaAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH..." Lumpy inhaled as he tilted his head back. Then he shot it forwards as he released another sneeze. "CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

"Ugh. Sorry," Lumpy said as he rubbed his nose on his forefinger.

"Bless you," Sniffles said. "As I said, it's not much to worry about. You must be careful, however. If your hay fever starts acting up, you won't stop sneezing even when tomorrow arrives. And as I warned you before, don't try to hold back your sneezes when you feel them coming on, or else you'll start sneezing for a while. All you need to do is let those sneezes free until tomorrow, and you'll be fine."

"Oh, okay."

Lumpy got up from the couch and started to leave. He tried to open the door, but Sniffles went over to it and opened it for him.

"Allow me to get that for you."

"Okay, thanks," Lumpy said as he started to walk out the door.

"And furthermore, don't be surprised if you sneeze and then hear 'Gesundheit' instead of 'bless you.' They both mean the same thing."

Lumpy then proceeded to leave Sniffles' house. As he did, he sighed to himself. He didn't think he could handle an entire day of sneezing loudly and strongly... or could he?


	3. A Sneezy Conversation

On his way home, Lumpy sniffled repeatedly and rubbed his nose. Constantly needing to sneeze bothered him enough, but to make his situation even worse, it seemed like everything around him was trying to make him sneeze, even when he didn't want it to. He wanted to try not to sneeze, but Sniffles had warned him not to do so, or else he would have a sneezing fit as he had earlier today. But trying not to resist wasn't as easy as he thought it would be.

Lumpy stopped in his tracks when his nose started twitching and his nostrils started flaring up. Another sneeze was coming on, but he didn't want to do it. He sniffled deeply, trying to stop his nostrils from flaring, but he accidentally snorted up a small cloud of pollen in the air. His hay fever started to act up as his nostrils flared up even more violently, and his breath began to hitch.

"Aaaaaahhhhhh... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..." Lumpy tilted his neck back as he inhaled twice. He could tell that this sneeze was going to be a big one. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Lumpy shot his neck forwards as he released yet another unbelievable sneeze. True to his fears, it was a big one, but that was because this time around, his hay fever and the pollen that induced it made it even bigger and louder than many of his other sneezes. But it wasn't enough to satisfy his itchy nose. Before long, he needed to sneeze again, but it didn't take as much of a buildup as the first one.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! AaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH..." While he was taking a final inhale, Lumpy didn't manage to see Cuddles and Toothy overhearing him and walking up to him. "CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

"Oh, my gosh!" Cuddles and Toothy said at the same time, in shock. They had heard Lumpy sneeze some loud sneezes before, but very few of his normal sneezes were ever like this.

"Ugh..." Lumpy recovered from his sneezing fit and noticed that his friends were looking at him, both with surprised expressions on their faces. He blushed in embarrassment as he rubbed his nose on his forefinger.

"Lumpy, are you feeling okay?" Cuddles asked.

"Those sneezes you did there sounded like you're getting sick," Toothy added. "Either that, or your hay fever's getting worse."

"Sorry, guys," Lumpy said. "I'm not getting sick. But earlier today, I sniffed this flower, and it made me super sneezy."

"So your hay fever's getting worse?" Cuddles asked. He had seen Lumpy sneeze from flowers before, so he assumed that this was what was going on with him.

"Well, yeah, you could say that. But it's not just that. It's..." Lumpy's nostrils started to flare up again, and he noticed it happening. "Uh-oh. Hang on, I think one's coming..." He turned his body away from Cuddles and Toothy as he began to inhale. "Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Lumpy released another loud sneeze, and hearing it caused Cuddles and Toothy to cringe in shock. A few seconds after the sneeze had finished, Lumpy turned back to Cuddles and Toothy. He sniffled and rubbed his nose on his forefinger.

"Bless you," Toothy said politely, but Lumpy didn't bother to thank him.

"It's not just my hay fever," Lumpy resumed. "It's the flower itself that's making me sneeze. I don't know how long, but I'm gonna keep sneezing like this for a while. I'm really sorry."

"Wow. That's too bad," Toothy said.

"It sure is." Lumpy sniffled again.

"You want us to find a way to stop you from sneezing?" Cuddles asked.

"Thanks, but no. Sniffles told me to not stop myself from sneezing, or I won't be able to stop."

"Oh, okay," Toothy said.

Lumpy's nose started to twitch again, and his nostrils started to flare up. He noticed this almost as soon as it happened, and he knew exactly what was going to follow.

"Guys? Aaaahhh..." he inhaled, tilting his head slightly back. "I think I'm gonna... AaaaaaaAAAAAAAHHHHHH... sneeze... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH..."

Cuddles and Toothy looked confused at first, but they cringed in fear once they got the message. Cuddles hastily reached up and pressed his forefinger under Lumpy's nose, trying to stop the sneeze. Lumpy stopped inhaling for a few seconds, but still had a very desperate pre-sneeze expression on his face.

"Wait, didn't he say that he didn't want us to stop him?" Toothy asked.

"Yeah, but we can't let--" Cuddles didn't get to finish his sentence.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Lumpy sneezed loudly and powerfully again, blowing Cuddles' finger off of his face. This time, the sneeze was so loud that they and Toothy could feel the ground shaking beneath them. An extremely rare effect for a not-so-rare sneeze. Before any of them could speak, Lumpy entered a full-blown sneezing fit. He didn't even have time to speak, rub his nose or even sniffle.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! Aaaaaaaaaahhhhh, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

"Ughhh... " Lumpy sniffled deeply and brought a forefinger to the end of his snout. He then rubbed his nose repeatedly. He didn't feel so good after the fit; in fact, he actually felt like he was catching a cold. As weak as he felt, he was actually pretty amazed that he had just sneezed five times. Sometimes he had fits, but rarely, if ever, did he ever sneeze more than three or four times.

"Wow. That is one bad case of the sneezes!" Cuddles said with a look of disbelief on his face.

"Yeah, bless you," Toothy added. He couldn't believe the sneezes, either, but he tried his best to stay polite.

"I am so... *sniff* sorry," Lumpy apologized as he continued to rub his nose. "Please don't try to stop my sneezes, or I'll sneeze a lot like I just did." Then he decided to walk away and resume his journey home. "I'm gonna go now. I don't wanna take them out on you guys."

"Okay, see ya," Cuddles said.

"Hope you feel better soon," Toothy said.

Lumpy heard them, but didn't respond to them. It wasn't because he didn't care for them, but because he was just too busy thinking about his sneezing problem. Judging by that sneezing fit that he had just released in front of Cuddles and Toothy, he could safely bet that it was getting worse, and that it would probably keep getting worse.


	4. Sneezing So That I Won't Sneeze

Lumpy sighed in relief as he finally arrived home and went up to his trailer. He went up to the front door, got out his key and unlocked the door. He started to push the door open, but after opening it slightly, his nostrils started to flare up again. He could feel yet another sneeze coming on, but since he wasn't in public this time around, he decided to just give in. He tilted his neck back as he inhaled, waiting for the sneeze to escape.

"Aaaaahhhhh... AaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Lumpy released the loud and powerful sneeze, and this time, it actually did something. The amount of wind that he expelled from his mouth threw the door open, but Lumpy didn't even notice at first. After a few seconds, he recovered and rubbed his nose on his forefinger. He looked surprised that the strong sneeze had blown the door open for him. He didn't really care, though, so he went inside, removed the key from the doorknob and closed the door behind him.

"Don't worry, it'll all be over soon," he said to himself. "It's just a really bad case of the sneezes. What is the worst that could happen?"

Lumpy walked down the hall, having decided to go into the bathroom for a little bit. It was mostly so that he could blow his nose, but he was also wondering if he had some allergy meds left over. Maybe taking some would help his sneezing problem - maybe not cure it entirely, but maybe reduce the chances of him sneezing, at best. Sniffles hadn't said anything about medication, but it was worth a try.

Once Lumpy had made it into the bathroom, he turned on the light. The lamps on the ceiling were flicked on, but their rays immediately reached his face, causing another sneeze to build up. Lumpy could feel his snout twitching and his nostrils flaring. He accepted that the sneeze was coming, however, and prepared to release it. He shut the door behind him to give himself some privacy, despite that he lived alone, and a few seconds later, his breath began to hitch.

"Aaaaahhhhh... AaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH..." Lumpy inhaled twice, tilting his neck backward. Then he tilted it even farther back with a final giant inhale, followed by the dramatic release of his large sneeze. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

"Ugh... Phew!"

Lumpy breathed a sigh of relief as he rubbed his nose on his forefinger. Unlike a majority of the other sneezes that had happened today, this one actually felt pretty good. It was mostly the subsequent sweet relief that made it something to look forward to, however. Lumpy removed his forefinger, reached over to the tissue box and pulled out a tissue. He then held it over his nostrils and blew his nose. It wasn't running or stuffed-up, but he figured that either of those effects would result after all of his sneezes.

After he finished blowing, Lumpy started wiping his nose on the tissue as he went up to his medicine cabinet and opened it. He was searching for some allergy meds, which he thought would help him stop sneezing. He didn't find any in the cabinet, however. He sighed to himself in dismay, as he had remembered that he had taken the last of his allergy medicine the day before, but he wasn't too unhappy.

"Looks like I'm out of allergy meds. Oh, well. That stuff probably wouldn't work, anyway."

He closed the medicine cabinet and sat down on the toilet - not because he needed to use it, but because he wanted to wait for any upcoming sneezes to take their course. His nose was itching consistently; sometimes, the sensation was strong enough to make him need to sneeze, and sometimes, it was much milder.

He couldn't help but wonder just how many sneezes it would take him before his nose felt satisfied enough to... well, not need to sneeze again, at least for a few minutes. Or perhaps there actually was a way to cure his sneezes, and it just went undiscovered. Then, it hit him. Earlier today, Sniffles had warned him to stay away from pollen and flowers, or the sneezes would keep coming. But he didn't hear him mention anything about other ways of inducing sneezes, like inhaling pepper or tickling his nose. Could these have the same effect as pollen and flowers, or could said methods of inducing actually be the solution to Lumpy's severe sneezing problem? He wasn't sure if that was it, but it gave Lumpy an idea.

"Maybe I should make myself sneeze without setting my allergies off," Lumpy said.

As if responding to his idea, his nose twitched and his nostrils flared up again. He almost immediately gave in and waited for the upcoming sneeze to release.

"Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..." Lumpy tilted his neck back, and then released yet another large and loud sneeze. "CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Lumpy raised his forefinger to his nose and rubbed it for a few seconds. Then he removed his finger and began to induce some sneezes. He took the tissue that he was holding, and rolled one of its corners into a point. He then inserted this corner into one of his nostrils and started to move the tissue around. As he expected, it did tickle; he could feel both of his nostrils flaring up already, but the nostril that was being tickled flared up even more. Barely three seconds of this went by before he reared his head back and took a single inhale as the inevitable happened.

"Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

Lumpy's sneeze blew the tissue directly out of his nostril, along with two clear streams of mucus being blown out of both nostrils. By the time he had recovered, his nose was running a little bit. He rubbed his nose on his forefinger, and then raised the tissue back to his nostrils and wiped off the mucus. He didn't need to blow; he had only made himself sneeze once. Once all of the mucus had been cleared, he removed the tissue from his nostrils as he sniffled.

"Wow, that worked pretty fast," he said to himself. "I'm not sure if it'll be enough, though."

He tried to think of other ways to make himself sneeze. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. Not including what happened a few moments ago, he remembered at least one time where he deliberately tickled his nose and made himself sneeze. He didn't use a rolled-up tissue for that, however; instead, he used a feather. So maybe if he tickled his nose again, this time with a feather, until he made himself sneeze, then he would be able to stop sneezing.

Lumpy threw his used tissue in the trash can and walked out of the bathroom. He then went into his bedroom and closed the door behind him before going over to his bed and sitting down on it. Looking over at his pillow, he put his hand on it and started feeling around. It took him a few seconds, but he felt the shaft of a feather sticking out of the pillow and slowly pulled it out. He then held the feather close to his face.

As opposed to most of the other times like this where he was actually looking forward to making himself sneeze, Lumpy was actually feeling uneasy, and not in the "excited" way. Almost all of the sneezes that he had released today were huge and loud beyond belief. Could even tickling his nose a few times, with this small feather, be enough to make him explode in an equally unbelievable sneeze, too? He shuddered just thinking about it. Then again, he did have a pretty large and sensitive nose, so large sneezes were pretty much par for the course. Still, Lumpy was concerned about what might happen, and wondered if he should really do this. He quickly made up his mind, however.

Lumpy raised the feather to his nostrils and started to stroke them as gently as possible. And as expected, it did tickle, but rather than immediately making him sneeze, it caused him to giggle slightly. He continued tickling his nostrils, waiting for a sneeze to build, and at the same time, he continued giggling. For the first few seconds, his reaction to having the end of his snout caressed with a feather was about the same as his reaction to having his belly tickled for a split second.

That was only the first few seconds, however. During the next few seconds, Lumpy finally started to get what he wanted. His nostrils, having had enough of being tickled, began to flare up, and his snout began to twitch as a sneeze began to build. Lumpy could feel the tickling sensation turning into a sneezy sensation, and he realized that the sneeze was coming. He stopped tickling his nose and removed the feather from his nostrils, but he was just a little too late. His nostrils were still flaring up, and his breath was beginning to hitch.

"Aaaaaahhhhh... Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh..." Lumpy inhaled twice as he tilted his head back, with his nose and nostrils twitching and flaring in almost perfect unison. "AaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..." Lumpy tilted his head back even farther. He didn't notice the feather slipping away from his hand. His nostrils were flaring up as large as they could become, his nose was twitching madly, and the sneeze was on the verge of defeating him. With a final loud and dramatic inhale, accompanied by a final backward jerk of his head and neck... it came.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Lumpy shot his neck forwards as he released the monstrous sneeze that he had intentionally induced. He lost almost all of his breath, but somehow without passing out; he felt a huge pain surging through his snout and throat; and he caused the floor underneath him as well as the bed he was sitting on to shake. And a good amount of clear mucus emerged from both of his nostrils while he was sneezing. He had never sneezed this hard in his life - it was true that he had sneezed some exceptionally loud sneezes before, but nothing like this. He was glad that he was in private when it happened, because had someone else been in the scene, they probably would have gotten killed or blown away.

Lumpy recovered from the sneeze and managed to catch his breath. His nose was now completely red thanks to that one sneeze, and he wasn't feeling very well, either. He sniffled wetly, absentmindedly brought a hand up to the end of his snout, and rubbed his running nose on his forefinger. He could feel the amount of mucus sticking to his finger, and when he made the mistake of removing said finger from his face, he quickly realized that he needed a tissue.

"Aw, darn it," Lumpy said to himself.

He looked around his bedroom for a tissue box, but to his disappointment, he didn't find one in here. He got up from his bed and left the bedroom to return to the bathroom. Along the way, he sniffled constantly and kept rubbing his nose. Neither of these actions were much help, though, because his nose was running persistently.

Once Lumpy had finally arrived at the bathroom, he closed the door behind him and finally removed his finger from his mucus-covered nostrils. He grabbed a few tissues from the tissue box, held the tissues to his nostrils and started blowing his nose. He had to stop after a second, however, because it felt absolutely painful. Lumpy was on the verge of tears as he temporarily removed the tissues from his nose.

"It... still hurts..."

Lumpy sat down on the toilet seat as he sniffled repeatedly. He still needed to blow his nose, but for his own safety, he simply wiped at it with the tissues that he was holding instead. He didn't stop wiping his nose even after most of the mucus had cleared from his nostrils. He really didn't want to make himself sneeze any more, especially not after that giant sneeze that he had released in his bedroom. It left him feeling miserable, at least for a few minutes. However, he also wondered if it was enough relief to stop him from sneezing again.

Just as he finished thinking that, however, his nostrils started flaring up, and with barely any buildup, he sneezed again. He didn't bother to cover it with the tissues that he was still using. "AaaaAAAAHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

This sneeze wasn't as monstrous as the one that he had released in the bedroom, but it was still painful. Lumpy started to cry as he raised the tissues back to his nostrils and wiped them. They were still sore from the giant sneeze. The smaller sneeze that he had just released didn't help matters, partially because it had reminded Lumpy that he was still under the effects of the Curse Flower. He stayed in the bathroom as he spent the next hour or so sniffling, wiping his nose, occasionally sneezing, and occasionally throwing away his used tissues and grabbing some fresh ones. And no matter how much time had passed, he couldn't really blow his nose without feeling some pain. He was just miserable.

As a final note, Lumpy was planning on using pepper after he had finished tickling his nose with the feather. But due to the unbelievably huge and painful sneeze that resulted from the feather-tickling, the plan was abandoned and forgotten. Lumpy really didn't want to induce another one of those sneezes, anyway.


End file.
